Six $!%&@# Weeks Later

It has been six weeks - an entire month and a half since I flew 4TV home, and as of today, my airplane is still propellerless, and is still unflyable.  I'm beyond livid, but there's really nobody to be livid at other than the gods of general aviation that work overitme to make sure nothing ever works right.

Ramp queen

As I detailed in my previous post, the prop had a dent in the leading edge that my A&P was concerned about, so I agreed to have it it sent off to his prop shop.  That was one week down.  Then it sat at the prop shop for the next three weeks while I waited to hear from them as to whether it could be fixed or whether I'd need a new propeller.  In the meantime, I had found a couple candidates for recently overhauled propellers in case it came to that.  By the fourth week of hearing nothing, I called the shop myself, and had a conversation with their mechanic.  They could repair it for $1K, but they noted some previous repairs and spots that, while not a concern, showed the prop's age.  They offered to overhaul it for $2K, which I agreed to.  When asked how long that would be, I was told a week to a week and a half.  After two weeks I called again, and was told they were finishing it up and it would be delivered to my A&P on that Wednesday.  I texted my A&P on Wednesday to inquire as to whether it had shown up, and he indicated that it had just arrived.  No indication of when he would put the propeller on the airplane, but it was at least there.

By Friday morning I was growing concerned about an evolving weather situation.  A potential tropical system was taking aim for the Carolinas, and I was annoyed by the thought that I might end up in a situation where I needed to move the plane and couldn't on account of my propeller still not being on the airplane.  I texted my A&P again to express this concern and get a sense for when it might be ready.  He responded that he was going to try to get to it that day.  I drove up to the airport that afternoon to find my airplane still tied down, with no propeller.  Yay.

I did leave the prop log in the glove box and texted my A&P again to let him know that it would be in there, but didn't see a response.  Now I assume that it won't be put on till at least Monday.  As of now, the storm is projected to arrive in South Carolina on Tuesday, but weather conditiosn may mean the airplane is stuck anyways,  I just hate the fact that I have no control because of how inefficient aviation maintenance has become.  I'm pissed, but the reality is that my prop sat for three weeks because of the demand for such services far outweighing the number of folks who can do it.  Same with my A&P - I have no doubt that he wasn't just backed up with other airplanes to fix.  Still, it sucks.

Oh you're about to get your airplane back?  Let's make sure you still can't fly it.

The whole situation continues to play with my mental health.  I put a deposit down to do the annual early in November just to have the plane thoroughly taken apart and examined before I start really putting through its paces, and now I'm questioning whether I'll even get a chance to fly it by then.  I had hoped to be well into transitioning to the right seat and practicing CFI lessons - instead, I'm waiting to fly my airplane for only the second time.  

Sometimes I really wish general aviation would die out and put us all out of our misery, but until then, I'll continue to let it beat me up.

Prop Update & New Gear

On the day I posted my last post, I sent an e-mail to the prop shop to inquire about the status of my propeller.  The big outstanding question was whether I'd need a new propeller or they could fix the dent in mine (which they thought they probably could).  They ended up calling me later that day and left a message, but for some reason I never saw it pop up on my phone. The next day (Friday) I called the shop and they put me in touch with the guy who managed the prop business.  He mentioned that he had left me a message, and I apologized that I somehow missed it.  

The good news on the prop was that they could file out the damage, which would cost $1K ... but (and there's always a "but") he had noted some places on the prop where it had been sanded and field repairs made previously.  Nothing that would make it unairworthy, but probably just representative of its time as a trainer.  The prop had 1,200 hours since overhaul, same as the engine, though I'm not sure if that's time since overhaul, or time since new - I'll have to check the logs.  He suggested that for $2K they could just do a complete overhaul.  

Given the time on the prop and the chance to reset it to "0", the extra $1K seemed like a pretty good investment, so I authorized the overhaul.  That includes a static balancing, and I'll likely do a dynamic one at some point once it's back on.  There's a guy who keeps advertising them on the Carolina Aviators FB page, so I may reach out to him.  Prop mechanic estimated a week to a week and a half to complete it, so I'm assuming two-weeks before it's on the plane and I can do a sign off flight.  I texted my A&P to let him know.

With guidance on the prop, I went ahead and paid my $600 deposit to have the annual done in November.  The annual isn't technically due until end of April, but I had previously discussed having the A&P spend four hour or so really looking at the airplane just to be sure the pre-buy hadn't missed anything major that would be a safety to flight hazard.  I have zero confidence in the A&P that did the annual, 50% confidence in the one that did the pre-buy, and 100% confidence in my new A&P.  At this stage in my life, I'm not interested in flying something myself that I'm not pretty confident in the safety of, and am not interested in flying others in it (including my kids) until I'm absolutely certain of its safety.  Moving the annual up is going to hurt the wallet for sure, but it seems like the prudent choice.  In the meantime, I'll fly the plane for a month or so by myself just to get acclimated to the right seat and start working on PPL & CPL maneuvers in preparation for the CFI.

I did pick up two pieces of equipment for the plane this week.  I didn't like the idea of the flight controls being subject to the wind, and securing them with seatbelts isn't terribly easy in this plane, so I spent $100 on a control wheel lock from Royal Air Products.  A seemingly dumb amount, but also the cheapest new control lock alternative out there.  Fits like a glove.

New control wheel lock installed

I also happened to find a Bruce's Custom Cover on FB Marketplace being sold buy a guy about 40-minutes from me for $225.  A new one is $470 before shipping, so that really was  a great deal considering he only had it for a few months before selling the plane.  He had it on a '64, but according to Bruce's site, the same model fits all non-straight tail 150s and 152s.  I took it to the airport on a Sunday morning while my son was doing rowing nearby, and installed it, except for the clips.  The previous owner had forgotten that those were still on the plane when he sold it to me, but he found a bag with some that he thought might work.  I left them in the glovebox to have my A&P take a look when the prop is back.  

Though the wrong color, the new, used cover fit great - needs snaps installed at the top, though

The guy who sold me the cover also had a case of oil and an extra filter, so I bought those off of him for $75 as well.  After checking that the plane still had 5+ quarts in it, I stuck three of the new quarters in the back, along with the bag for the cover.  I also had the FBO fill the tanks.  Since I don't have a tow bar to drag it over to the self-serve, and I don't have a prop to taxi it over there, I just had them pump it.  This was to keep them full so as to minimize the chance of water forming in the tanks.  Had a great chat with the lineman kid who asked about the plane.  He mentioned that my A&P Ryan was a tremendous mechanic, and would find anything and everything that anyone could with the plane.  That was equal parts reassuring and concerning, since I know the first annual is probably going to hurt.  Better than the alternative I suppose.

The Waiiiiting is the Hardest Part

So it's been three weeks since I brought 4TV home, and I've had the opportunity to fly her exactly zero times.  My love hate relationship with general aviation is just hate at the moment, and it's starting to wear on me.

As a reminder, I had my A&P look at a dent in the propeller when I returned home with the plane.  It was decided that the dent was large enought that it could cause an imbalance issue that could eventually result in the engine dismounting itself, which is of course no bueno.  So the A&P removed the prop and sent it off to the engine/prop shop in Burlington, NC to have them evaluate and possibly fix it.  Since that time I've been waiting to hear confirmation that they can actually fix it, let alone however long it takes to fix it.  I chatted with my A&P last week who told me the shop had told hiim it would be about 2-3 weeks.  I wish that had been communicated to me initially, as it would have helped me set expectations.  He indicated that he would call this week if he hadn't heard anything.  Naturally the weather these past three weeks has been absolutely beautiful.  

If I'm antsy, it's for a few reasons.  First, my personality is such that I don't like being stagnant, particularly when it's outside my control.  I had planned to be well into transitioning to right seat familiarization by now so I could get to working on wrapping up my CFI training.  That's a standstill.

I feel like something's missing ...

There's also the fact that I'm waiting to hear on the propeller to plan where I go with upgrades and maintenance moving forward with the airplane. One of the discussions I had with my mechanic last week was to potentially move the annual up to November.  It's not technically due till end of April (so work done in May), but the mechanic has no annuals scheduled in November, and there's still enough unknowns about this airplane that I like the peace of mind of just knocking it out sooner so that I can conflidentally fly my kids in it.  The annual price will be $1,200, and I know I'm going to need about $2K in work to have a doubler installed where the seat attachment has resulted in a crack.  So to be safe, I'm assuming at least $5K.  I'm willing to take this on, but not if I have to buy a new propeller - at which point I would hold off until May so as to not be overwhelmed with costs this early.

There's also the question of what upgrades I want to to do and when.  Getting an ADSB-Out solution is a priority, and with the expenses I've incurred thus far, I might op to just buy a used uAvionix Tailbeacon just to get the functionality.  There are the windows - of which the side windows are worse than the back one (the windshield is in great condition).  It's possibe that I can do the windows myself, something I'd like to explore, but not an airworthiness item at the moment.  There's carpet, which I would like to have done during the annual, and I've even found a sample that seems to go well, but I'll also likely need cowl panesl for both sides near the pilot and pax's feet for the carpet to attach to.  That's not even to delve into avioncis upgrades I'd like to make, and upgrades to the dash/eyebrow which is currently in horrible shape.

I was hoping that by the time I finished this blog entry that I'd have an answer, but none yet.  The frustration continues.